Creamline Dairy to set up new plant in Vizag

In order to expand its capacity and reach, Creamline Dairy Products Ltd will be setting up a new plant at Vishakapatnam (Vizag) in Andhra Pradesh and expand its distribution network, said a top official here on Wednesday.

He also said the entry of Patanjali brand of the ghee and flavoured milk segment has not impacted the company.

Speaking to reporters after the launch of Vitamin D-fortified Jersey brand of milk, Chief Executive Officer P. Gopalakrishnan said: "We will set up a new plant at Vizag with a capacity to process 100,000 litres per day."

According to him, the outlay for the project will be around Rs 30 crore and work on the plant would start soon.

The company is a subsidiary of Godrej Agrovet Ltd and has a capacity of around 7.1 lakh litres per day and a milk drying facility of 150,000 litres per day.

According to Gopalakrishnan, the company will also increase is distribution reach by increasing the number of exclusive outlets.

Last year, the company closed its books with a revenue of around Rs 1,000 crore.

Gopalakrishnan said the organised dairy industry is set to grow and now accounts for around 22 per cent of the total industry.

He said that apart from packaged milk, growth would come from value-added products-curd, butter, ghee, flavoured milk, paneer (cottage cheese), butter milk, ice cream and others.

"The value added milk products market is around Rs 80,000 crore. The beverage segment is growth," Gopalakrishnan said.

For Creamline Dairy, the value-added products contribute around 22 per cent.

Queried about the company's presence in the institutional segment, he said that in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the company is mainly a retail player while in Chennai, the company caters to the horeca (hotels, restaurants and cafes) segment.

On the issue of customer's brand loyalty at the retail shop end, he said private dairies have good brand equity though customers may pick up a competing brand if their preferred brand is not available.

Queried about the impact of Patanjali brand on the sales of ghee and flavoured milk, Gopalakrishnan told IANS that the impact has not been felt so far.

According to Dharini Krishnan, Consultant Nutritionist and Dietician, people are suffering Vitamin D-deficiency owing to the changing lifestyle -- home or office-bound -- and minimal exposure to sun which is the main source of the vitamin.

Vitamin D-fortified milk is one source for addressing this problem.

Gopalakrishnan said the company is adding Vitamin D to its milk that is already fortified with Vitamin A.

--IANS

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